Search Site
Login

Baptism Stories – July 2018

Stuart

I grew up in South Africa, in a divided religious family, half atheist and half Jehovah witness, with very little to no understanding of who God was. As a family of five kids, we were always poor. We were out window shopping every weekend in fear that the debt collectors would come knocking. At the time getting to know about God was the last thing in my mind and I continued in my life wondering why I always felt empty.

As I grew older I would go drinking with my friends, at first this gave me joy and satisfaction and I felt like I was having a good time. But the fun of it wore of and it started to feel empty, so I turned my focus to something new – cars! I went illegally drag racing constantly, I picked up a Toyota (one of many hot cars) and hit the streets every weekend drag racing and hoping to impress some girls. But after time the enjoyment of it wore of and the emptiness crept back in.  I tried to fill my time with pursing women, in hopes that it would make me happy, but it too felt empty and meaningless.

It wasn’t until I met Sacha that things started to change. Sacha helped me to recognise that there was more to life than what I had been doing. I started to notice there were differences between Sacha’s family life and my family life; and how they just knew that God had everything worked out and that it would be alright. Even in the darkest times.  Naturally I was curious why, and I started to question my beliefs and prodded Sacha with questions, which of course she was more than happy to answer to the best of her knowledge.

I started to understand and get to know God on a personal level, trying my best in my own way to talk to God. At the time I didn’t feel comfortable going to church as I had a lot of misunderstanding about what church is like from my youth.  After getting married I attempted to try a few churches and see if I felt comfortable, but I always felt lost in the crowd. It was hard to find a church that I fitted into. Nowhere felt quite right. But I always encouraged Sacha to go. She always came back so happy.

Years later my relationship with God has strengthened and has changed my life dramatically. I no longer feel the need to fill the emptiness I had inside. I feel happy just hanging out with friends and having a beer, I no longer feel the need to get wasted to have a good time. I don’t do illegal drag racing anymore, although I have been known to enter into legal drag races from time to time!  God even stopped my desire to look for happiness in women because he gave me Sacha. And no one could be as unique to fit my mold so perfectly. We have a strong marriage and two beautiful children and I couldn’t be happier.

I love how God has changed my life and I want to keep changing and growing in my relationship with God; and that is why I am getting baptised today, to declare publicly that I want God in my life and I want to live for Him.

Owen

I feel like I have always been a Christian. I had the blessing of being born into a Christian family. I have always been around the church and Christian people which has shaped my life significantly. Around year 10-11 it became something more than just something I did on a Friday and Sunday night. I began to question my personal beliefs and looking at what it meant for me to live as a Christian in the world. Since then I have grown in my walk with God, wrestling with bigger concepts of my belief and changing my philosophy on what it means to live a Christian.

Baptism is always something that I have been meaning to do but never have –  something that I kept pushing away because it was too much effort and I believe to me it meant a whole life commitment to God. I am starting to do more leading at church camps and the idea of evangelizing to children about God has challenged my own commitment.  I need to live 100% for Gods glory not 50% for God and 50% for myself. I want to live a life fully committed God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. To live my life as God wants me to live it not as I wish to. To walk with God with everything I do and living according to his good graces.

I’m very grateful that my parents brought me to Christ when I was young and have always showed me the power of His love and forgiveness. They have helped me grow closer to God one step at a time and have been my example of how I should live my life. I’m also grateful to the many Christian friends who have challenged my thoughts and beliefs, pushing me deeper into what it means to be Christian.

Holly

I first gave my life to God when I was too young to appreciate the gravity of what it meant. But I remember asking God into my heart as maybe a 7-year-old – not fully understanding the importance of it but knowing it was something I had to do. As I have grown I have tried to leave Christ and peruse the things of this world but I despised who I was when I was separated from God and how isolated it made me feel.

Over the years God has shown me how much I need Him, using the people around me to point me back to Christ and to remind me of how precious I am to him.

A friend once said to me, the Bible says believe and be baptised, not be perfect and be baptised. I am not perfect, I am inherently sinful and sometimes a bit of a mess, but God loves me through it all despite my sins.  He covers them with his amazing grace.